Literature Circles: Translating Romeo and Juliet

Students met in Literature Circles to discuss their interpretations (translations) of passages of Act Two, Scene II. The first group finds that their interpretations of Juliet's famous "Wherefore art thou, Romeo?" speech are fairly similar, as do the members of the second group. We practiced some ways of reading certain lines; I nudge them to notice literary devices such as dramatic irony and metaphor, grapple with vocabulary, and to make predictions about what will happen as they read further.

Romeo and Juliet is one of the core texts we read to explore the theme of Influences on the Human Spirit.